Hollie Cavanagh

Elise Testone, who had flirted with elimination on several occasions in previous weeks, finally walked the plank on Thursday. Her ouster leaves five contestants in the race for the title.

Testone, a 28-year-old rocker chick from Charleston, S.C., probably never did connect with “Idol”‘s younger fans, and certainly didn’t help her cause with a couple of questionable song choices during Wednesday night’s tribute to the rock band Queen.
Testone was part of an all-female Bottom 3 that included Hollie Cavanagh and Skylar Laine. Host Ryan Seacrest reported that a whopping 58 million votes were cast this week by “Idol” fans.

The other singers remaining in the competition are Joshua Ledet, Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips.

Testone may have left the show, but she still has some “Idol” business to tend to. She’ll join the Top 10 finalists on the 45-city summer tour, which was announced on Thursday.

The tour kicks off on July 6 in Detroit and includes stops in Sacramento (July 21) and San Jose (July 22). The latter date represents a homecoming for DeAndre Brackensick, the “Idol” contestant from Oak Grove High School who was eliminated from the competition three weeks ago.